In celebration of Star Trek’s 50 year anniversary, many theaters are holding special showings of the original Star Trek movies.  The best of these, in my opinion, is “The Wrath of Khan,” which I had the pleasure of viewing at a special event showing this past weekend.  This was a director’s cut and also included a short subject about the making of the movie.  I hadn’t seen this movie since it first came out in 1982, and thought I might find it trite and out of touch.  I was pleasantly surprised and  I thoroughly enjoyed this one.  There are many things to admire here.  Nicholas Meyer deftly directs these old veteran actors, and recognized that the original movie was far too effects driven, and concentrated more on character, then and plot development.  The story is simple.  15 years ago, Kirk marooned Khan ( played delightfully hammy by Ricardo Montalban) on a planet in the Ceti Alpha system after he tried to take over the Enterprise and dispose of Kirk and his crew.  Khan and a few loyal crewmen were given the chance to start over on an undeveloped planet.  However, a cosmic disaster renders the planet almost inhabitable and Khan’s wife and many of his people are killed. Khan is obsessed with the idea that Kirk never checked back to see what had happened after he left Khan on the planet, and he harbors an increasing hatred of Kirk, and his desire to destroy Kirk consumes him.  When Paul Winfeld and Walter Koenig land on the planet by mistake, Khan and his people capture them and use some nasty local fauna to control them and get a hold of a dangerous device.  Then the struggle is on between them over control of this potentially devastating weapon.  Of course, part of the fun is listening to these two arch enemies try to outmaneuver each other. What is truly amazing, and not often heard of in  movies made today, Kirk and Khan never meet face to face.  This plot device really enhances the movie, as they both use their brains, instead of brawn to defeat each other. The movie ends with a gut-wrenching sacrifice, one that sets up a three movie arc that is most certainly the best three of the six ‘classic crew’ Star Trek movies.  The special effects are minimal, just like on the T.V. show, and that suits this movie just fine.  If you like the new Star Trek reboots, and have never seen the older originals, this one is definitely worth your time!